A Black-Gabled English Farmhouse Harvests its Own Electricity, Heat, and Water
Built of prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels, this barn-inspired home blends into the rural landscape.
Built of prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels, this barn-inspired home blends into the rural landscape.
Handcrafted details, energy-efficient principles, and a thoroughly contemporary interior combine at the Friends Lab, a barn-inspired home designed by Madrid-based AMPS Arquitectura & Diseño. The clients are a young family who wanted a house they could share with friends and family on their farm in southern England.
"We were on the same page regarding a sustainable approach to life, and they believed we could deliver something different from the rest of the practices they had worked with in the past," says AMPS founder Alberto Marcos, who met the clients through the school their children attended.
Located in the historic English village of Bentworth, Friends Lab is a contemporary take on the local agricultural typology.
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In addition to a spacious, sustainable home, the clients requested a residence that would blend into the landscape. Marcos took inspiration from the farm’s blackened timber buildings in designing a long, gabled structure enveloped in black-stained Accoya timber batten screen cladding.
"Built with a double skin, the exterior comprises a permeable black-stained accoya timber batten screen, camouflaging the house as though an agricultural building. The roof and facades stretch along the same plane, in a simple and clear gesture," note the architects.
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Sustainably sourced Accoya timber battens extend from the roof to the walls.
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See the full story on Dwell.com: A Black-Gabled English Farmhouse Harvests its Own Electricity, Heat, and Water
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